| Sunday, July 25, 2010 - 10:59am | Read More |
Guest Blogger and Interim Pastor Carl Thomas: The vast array of eager and talented leadership staff and helpers that comprise SAM (Staging a Miracle) “launched” itself the second week in July and everything is humming along nicely.
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| Sunday, July 25, 2010 - 10:46am | Read More |
I am writing in the middle of my silent retreat at the Jesuit Retreat House in Sedalia, Colorado. (Is this cheating?) I am in my fifth day here, and have already begun to see things differently, and in a way that feels very refreshing and renewing.
I think of you all often. Especially on Sunday mornings at 10:30 I pray for you, but all during the week too—as one or another of your faces comes to my mind, I am thinking of you and praying that this summer is bringing you something of what you need, as it is me. And I am thinking of you as you Stage A Miracle!
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| Monday, June 28, 2010 - 11:34am | Read More |
As I leave for two months of renewal and formation leave, I have just two more thoughts I want to be sure I leave you with. One is my deep gratitude to Carl Thomas for stepping in as pastor while I am gone. I have great confidence in him, and know that he will serve you, and First Church, well in my absence.
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| Monday, June 14, 2010 - 9:39pm | Read More |
On Sunday, June 6, I announced in my sermon that I’ll be taking a two-month spiritual renewal leave this summer, beginning June 21. If you missed that sermon, I’d encourage you to read it online (www.firstumcsac.org/sermons) so that you know a little more about why this time away is important for me. But in case you don’t get to that, here is a piece of it that I want you to have:
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| Monday, May 24, 2010 - 9:37pm | Read More |
Everywhere you go around the United Methodist Church these days, people are talking about Re-thinking Church. This is the theme of the most recent advertising campaign of the denomination (and a wonderful website you can get to by Googling “Rethink Church”).
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| Monday, April 26, 2010 - 9:37pm | Read More | Last week I attended, with a whole group of folks from this church, a dinner to celebrate the 5th anniversary of Family Promise, the non-profit organization that offers shelter, education and other services to families committed to transitioning out of short-term homelessness. There were 500 people at that dinner—most of them from churches that, like ours, have committed their money, their buildings, and their time to welcoming Family Promise participants to be come and stay with them for a week every few months. I was so proud to be part of a congregation that is a partner in this life- |
| Monday, April 12, 2010 - 8:47pm | Read More |
Happy Easter! All the major holidays of the Church year—Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Pentecost—are multiple-week observances. We’re meant to drink them in slowly, to savor them, so that we can absorb their full meaning. So we’ll be basking in the good news of Easter for several weeks to come.
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| Monday, February 8, 2010 - 9:47pm | Read More |
The Season of Lent Begins Feb. 17 – Ash Wednesday. Lent is one of those seasons of the church year that has never had much appeal in popular culture. The image is of Christians dragging themselves around in sackcloth and ashes, feeling hungry because they’re fasting, looking sad because they’re supposed to feel guilty and depressed. But it doesn’t need to look like that. Lent is one of those seasons of the church year that has never had much appeal in popular culture.
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| Monday, January 11, 2010 - 9:07pm | Read More |
For some time now, I have been watching the work of 12-step programs—Alcoholics Anonymous,Narcotics Anonymous, and others—with admiration and a little bit of envy. If you have been to even one of those meetings, you know that what you find when you walk in is an immediate sense of honesty and authenticity that is rare and refreshing. When people come together and are willing to admit that they share a need—especially a need for forgiveness or healing—the whole community is opened up for something powerful to happen.
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| Sunday, December 13, 2009 - 10:42pm | Read More |
It is Christmas time, a time when many of us are busier than usual and fully caught up in the good feelings of being with family and giving gifts, as well as the many needs right in front of us.
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